IronPigs sweep; Zambrano leaves start after two innings with right shoulder tightness

The right hander leaves after two innings with shoulder tightness, ending his attempt to return to the majors with the Phillies.

Carlos Zambrano left his start with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs Friday after… (KEVIN MINGORA, THE MORNING…)

June 28, 2013|By Jeff Schuler, Of The Morning Call

The Carlos Zambrano watch is apparently over.

The 32-year-old former three-time National League all-star's bid to return to the majors with the Phillies came to an apparent end Friday when he left his start for the IronPigs after the second inning with what was described as right shoulder tightness.

Zambrano's injury overshadowed an IronPigs doubleheader sweep of Durham before 9,892 at Coca-Cola Park. Derrick Mitchell's sixth-inning sacrifice fly gave Lehigh Valley a 6-5 win in the opener before three relievers combined for a 2-1 win in the second game.

Zambrano, signed to a minor league contract on May 15, to his shoulder as he left the mound following the second inning and went straight through the tunnel into the IronPigs clubhouse. Later, Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. told reporters traveling with the major league team in Los Angeles that Zambrano felt "serious pain" when he left the game.

Zambrano, who hit 89 MPH on the Coca-Cola Park radar gun before leaving the game, has a July 1 out-clause in his contract if he's not on the major league roster.

The 12-year major league veteran needed just nine pitches to retire the hard-hitting Bulls on three ground balls in the first inning, but after being staked to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the inning, gave the lead back during a 25-pitch second inning.

Although he walked one and hit one (both of which came with the bases loaded to force in runs) in the inning, which began with an leadoff error by shortstop Michael Martinez, Zambrano wasn't hit very hard.

Shelly Duncan followed the error with a dribbler that just got through the left side of the infield, and Leslie Anderson a flair over second baseman Cesar Hernandez into shallow right field to load the bases. After the hit-batter and walk, Cole Figueroa hit a dribbler in front of the plate that Zambrano turned into a force play at the plate with a backhand flip, and Tim Beckham struck out.

But ex-Phillie and IronPig Mike Fontenot, who played with Zambrano on the Cubs from 2005 through 2010, lined the only sharply hit ball of the inning through the right side for a game-tying single before Ryan Roberts fouled out to catcher Cameron Rupp.

Friday was Zambrano's fourth start with the IronPigs and his seventh overall in the Phillies minor league system since he began his comeback. He had allowed 26 hits and seven earned runs in 33 1/3 innings overall, with 16 walks and 29 strikeouts.

Cesar Jimenez, Mike McDougal and Mauricio Robles combined to allow one run over the final five innings. MacDougal, an 11-year major league veteran signed earlier this week after the IronPigs lost Phillippe Aumont and J.C. Ramirez out of the bullpen via promotion to the Phillies, earned the win in his Lehigh Valley debut, throwing two scoreless innings.

Robles pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

Josh Fields' leadoff double off the wall in right in the fifth led to the go-ahead run. Fields barely beat the throw from Steve Geltz to third as he tried to catch the lead runner on Michael Martinez's sacrifide bunt, and one batter later Mitchell delivered a drive to center that was deep enough to allow Fields to scamper home and break a 5-5 tie.

The IronPigs hit Durham starter J.D. Martin hard in the first inning. Cody Asche's double off the wall in left center knocked In Jermaine Mitchell, who huslted his way to second when Duncan misplayed his leadoff grounder to first, and Ruf followed with a single off the wall in right center to chase in Asche.

Cody Overbeck capped with inning with a booming home run onto the lawn in left center, his 14th of the season and 100th of his career.

Back-to-back doubles by Vince Belnome and Duncan gave the Bulls a 5-4 lead in the third, but Cesar Jimenez, who took over for Zambrano, got the final two outs to strand runners at second and third. After the IronPigs left the bases loaded in the third and Durham runners at the corners in the top of the fourth, Jermaine Mitchell's leadoff single and an Asche one-out single set up Ruf's sacrifice fly that tied the game after four innings.

In the second game, Greg Smith, Zach Miner and Luis Garcia came within one out of what would've been the IronPigs' International League-leading eighth shutout.

Smith, in his third start, allowed two hits in three innings. He's now allowed nine hits and walked just one in 14 shutout innings in those three starts.

Miner (5-5) allowed three hits and, like Smith, didn't walk anyone in three innings. Garcia, who hit 99 MPH on the radar gun on a pitch to Chris Gimenez, got in a bases-loaded, two-out jam when Jesus Flores line drive up the middle hit umpire Joey Amaral, a ball Pete Orr appeared to have a play on. However, Garcia got Tim Beckham to chase a slider in the dirt for a game-ending strikeout.

As it did in the first inning, the Asche-Ruf produced a first-inning run when Asche was hit by a two-out pitch and scored on Ruf's double to the gap in left center. Overbeck's second double in the sixth chased in Herhandez, who had reached on a leadoff throwing error.